Nadal beats Berrettini after a great performance and is in the final of the Australian Open! He’s on the verge of a historic feat

Rafael Nadal is in the final of the Australian Open. For someone who didn’t know if he would ever return to a professional career six months ago, this is an amazing feat. He handled Matteo Berretti in the semifinals rather smoothly and has a record on his hands.

It was expected to be a tough battle, as the Italian tennis player played a great tournament. But once it comes to the final stages of tournaments, Nadal transforms into a warrior who is almost impossible to beat. At the Grand Slams, he has dominated 10 semi-finals out of the last 11 played.

Rafa thus made it clear to his opponent right from the start who is the king here. On Berrettini’s first serve, he took his serve and took a quick 3-0 lead. He then brought the set to a victorious end in just 44 minutes (6-3).

Those who expected the return of the seventh-ranked player in the second set were wrong. The Mallorca native took two serves from Berretti and quickly led 4-0. Eventually, he cut the time even more and won 6-2 in 43 minutes.

“The first two sets were maybe the best I’ve played in a long time,” Nadal said in his post-match interview.

the 35-year-old Spaniard was tactically well prepared. He pushed Berrettini into the backhand corner for the vast majority of the exchanges and then attacked the Italian’s forehand with a cross to the free side.

It wasn’t until the third set that Berrettini was able to come back into the match easily. At 4-3 to the Italian, he took Nadal’s serve and carried the set to a 6-3 victory.

He maintained his returning form for the fourth set. He managed the first three games on serve in a clean game, only for it to be a trap from Nadal. At 4-3 to him, the Spaniard started to attack and after two break points, he broke his opponent’s serve to take a 5-3 lead and went on serve to win the match. He did that without much trouble and took advantage of the very first match point.

“If you haven’t experienced it with me, you don’t know what it means to me. I didn’t know if I was going to come back to tennis and now I’m in the final of the Australian Open. It surprises me that I am able to play at this level,” said an emotional Nadal after the match.

And Nadal has a historic feat on his hands. He is the first tennis player in history to reach 21 Grand Slams. He currently has 20 along with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. But now he has a huge chance to make history.

He will face the winner of the other semi-final, Tsitsipas-Medvedev. The favourite is the Russian tennis player, who is second in the ATP rankings.

Source: Livesport, Australian Open